9/23/1950 — 1/18/2026
Patti Lawton
Patti was raised in a large Catholic family. She used to say “she was the fifth from the oldest, third from the youngest”.
She attended St Luke’s Catholic School through 8th grade. Her 1st year in the public school, she received an award from the President of the U.S. for her achievement in gymnastics! She was so proud, she ran to her father’s work to show it to him! They had no gym at St Luke’s at that time. She then attended Holy Angels in Ballard. Her senior year she graduated from Shoreline High School, class of 1968.
She was a lover of animals and had many growing up. Birds, cats, (only Siamese) and dogs, she had them all. As much as she loved them, her first true love was for her family. Family ALWAYS came first to her.
Her first job was at the phone company as an operator. She was very proud to say she paid her father back every penny of the price of her first car, including the cost of insurance. She also worked for her father and older brother in both of the family owned Sherman Optical shops, one on 175th st and the other one on the Northwest Hospital campus. She went back to school and became a licensed hairdresser. She then switched up and got her license as a life insurance agent. Her true passion was customer service. She spent most of her working life, doing just that in several body shops in North Seattle and Kirkland. Employees, customers and all the insurance adjusters loved working with her. She treated them all with respect and made sure everything was done right. She made a lot of life long friend’s working in the shops, many that she still kept in touch with before leaving us. While working at Aurora Auto Rebuild in 1989, she meet her husband to be, Peter. They were married on Valentine’s day, 1992.
She was an avid reader. Always had a book beside the bed, in the car and when ever see went for treatments. Anyone who ever came to her house, knew how much she liked doing puzzles. There was always one in progress on the table. She also had a deep interest in ancestry, always looking up people and places related to her family. A lot of cousins are now keeping in touch because of her.
When she was first diagnosed with lung cancer, she was expected to be in the hospital for 5-8 days for the surgery and recovery. She came home in 3 days. She went back to work the next week. Same with the second surgery. Her surgeon called her “his poster child”! She never complained about the chemotherapy and the numerous scans and visits she had to do. She always thanked the doctors and nurses when she went home. She was one tough Lady.
She is survived by her husband, Peter, her daughter Leanne Pearson, grandson Aaron Pearson (Ashton), granddaughter Lexiana Wheeler, and great great grandson Jah-Qaari. Her brother John Scheuerman (Glenda), sisters Terri Montgomery (Mike) and Kathy Pirkle (Larry), and many cousins, nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents John and Ella Scheuerman, sister Barbara Sheldon (Tim), brother Fred Scheuerman (Terri) and sister Susan.
The family would like to give special thanks to the doctors and nurses at University of Washington Medical Center, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and Providence / Compassus at home Hospice care for their help with this 18 year battle with lung cancer. Also a very special thank you to her 2 childhood friends, who stayed by her throughout it all, Jeanne Startzman and Eileen VanHollebeke. She fought a good fight.
At her request, there will be no services. Remember her as she lived.
The post first appeared on Barton Family Funeral Service.